“Glacier,” by Margaret Mount, will be on display at the new exhibit.
Two exhibits open at Confluence Gallery in Twisp on Saturday (March 3), showcasing a wide array of fiber arts in the main gallery and block prints by local school students in the community gallery. An opening reception will be held Saturday, from 4 – 8 p.m.
“Connecting Threads” brings together many types of fiber art, one of the oldest art forms. From utilitarian to purely decorative, fiber arts are expressed through weaving, art quits, felting, basketry, soft sculpture, embroidery and hand-dyed textiles.
“My respect and admiration for the fiber arts is a lifelong obsession,” said Gale Tucker, show curator. “The history is mostly of women; women who might never have had any other creative personal self-expression available to her.”
In every human culture and civilization, women have labored to provide useful and essential items for their families and communities, Tucker said. The exhibit brings together traditional skills with modern twists.
“I’m struck by how often the ordinary becomes extraordinary at the hands of a woman putting her unique loving touch on a pair of socks, a dish towel, a blanket or doll,” Tucker said.
Block prints celebrating the Methow River, created by sixth-grade students at Methow Valley Elementary School, will be on display beginning Saturday in Confluence Gallery’s community gallery.
The prints are part of an interdisciplinary study unit about Methow Valley fish and fish habitat, offered in conjunction with National Fishing and Boating Week. Students first learned about fish and fish habitat in a classroom workshop with biologist John Crandall.
They then sketched mages and learned how to carve blocks and print them with instruction from local teaching artists Laura Gunnip and Emily Post, with help from artist Jennifer Molesworth. The block prints feature fish, mammals and habitat of the Methow River watershed.
The hands-on art residency was presented through Methow Arts’ arts education programs and was sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
For information, call 997 – 2787.
